Guy Vardaman
Guy Vardaman is a stand-in performer who often appeared in the role of Darien Wallace on Star Trek: The Next Generation. He also served as photo double for Data during the majority of the show's run, from the first season's "The Big Goodbye" onward as well as for Star Trek Generations. Additionally, he was a Research Consultant for the show's creator, Gene Roddenberry. On the set Vardaman's first on-screen appearance was as a passerby on the Dixon Hill holodeck program in "The Big Goodbye". His first appearance as Starfleet officer Darien Wallace came in the episode "Datalore". He would go on to appear as the character in 51 more episodes (counting his appearance in a photograph in "Eye of the Beholder"). Darien Wallace is also featured on a card for the Star Trek Customizable Card Game. http://www.psi-soft.co.uk/product_info.php/products_id/38133 In his role as a Starfleet officer, Vardaman has worn the colors of all three Starfleet divisions. He was usually seen wearing operations yellow, but he did wear science blue for an episode of the first season and also wore command red on several occasions. The only times he wore red, however, was when he was assigned to the conn. However, there were those on the production staff who felt that his scenes at the conn looked a bit awkward due to his physical similarity to actor Brent Spiner (the actor playing Data), who was seated at the console next to him. There are even shots in "The Wounded" where both Vardaman's and Spiner's hands are at the same position on their respective consoles – ironic since one of Vardaman's duties as Spiner's photo double is to be the actor's hands during certain close-up shots. While it made sense for Vardaman to resemble Spiner since he was the actor's photo double, the production crew "thought it looked too strange" when he was seated next to Spiner. On his way driving to rehearsals for scenes from "Brothers" where he would have doubled for Brent Spiner in his dual roles as Data and Lore, another driver suddenly changed into Vardaman's line and caused a head on collision of the two cars. Vardaman had to stay in bed for a very long time, explaining Wallace's absence in the first half of season 4. By the time of "The Loss", he was still unsteady on his feet (in hospital, he had also contracted Spinal Meningitis ) so he is only seen lying on a bed in sickbay, apparently injured after the ship was violently shaken when trying to break loose from a cosmic string. In "The Wounded", he is only seen sitting at conn and finally in "Identity Crisis", the 18th episode of that season, he returned in full swing. Vardaman went on to play the part of a Klingon numerous times – twice in a ''Star Trek'' film. The first was the Klingon officer serving on board Chang's Bird-of-Prey in Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country; the second was the Klingon officer serving on the Duras sisters' Bird-of-Prey in Star Trek Generations. His characters in both of these films stood in the same location on the bridge of each bird-of-prey – behind and to the right of the captain's chair. He also appeared as a member of the Klingon High Council in "Sins of the Father" and as the Klingon helmsman of K'Vada's Bird-of-Prey in "Unification I" and "II". He even played a Klingon in a Hallmark commercial promoting a Klingon Bird-of-Prey Christmas ornament, along with Robert O'Reilly. This commercial was done entirely in Klingon (with English subtitles, of course). The Klingon language itself was written by Marc Okrand for authenticity. The commercial has a Klingon commander (played by O'Reilly) rewarding his officers for their victory in battle by giving them a gift – a Klingon bird-of-prey Christmas ornament. We then see an insert shot of the ornament in Vardaman's hand, after which Vardaman's Klingon remarks "That was very nice of him", to which the other Klingon suggets giving their commander a "thank you" card. He also played unnamed Romulans twice on TNG, first in the episode "Timescape" and then in "Face of the Enemy". Despite having appeared in over 50 episodes, Vardaman only spoke two words on-screen: As Wallace, he said "Good" in "The Next Phase"; and as the Klingon officer in Generations, he was heard shouting "petaQ!" Also in Generations, he was seen mouthing the Klingon phrase "Qapla", but it was not audible, similar to a mouthed "Thank You" to Diana Giddings in "Evolution". He also did not receive credit for any of his appearances. Vardaman was also the permanent stand-in for Wil Wheaton, who played Wesley Crusher during the show's first four seasons and appeared several more times in later seasons. Additionally, Vardaman served as a stand-in for Leonard Nimoy in the episode "Unification II". He also stood in for many other guest characters on the show, including John de Lancie as Q in all of his episodes with the exception of the pilot, "Hide and Q", and the finale, and Dwight Schultz as Reginald Barclay, who also wore Vardaman's uniform in his episodes. His stand-in duties also required him to photo double other characters, or parts of their bodies. He was Worf's shoulder once, as well as Geordi La Forge's feet. He was even Beverly Crusher's torso in various insert shots when it was just required to see a part of her uniform in a reflection or something similarly small. On doubling for Data, Vardaman stated that actor Brent Spiner would often discuss with him an upcoming scene and was very particular regarding how closely Vardaman's hands resembled his own and even how Vardaman used his hands on-screen, for the sake of consistency. "In some cases," stated Vardaman. "Brent would coach me on how he wanted the buttons to be pressed so that it was consistent... once I started to do the photo doubling, he also was very loyal to me and ensured that I continued doing the photo doubling so that the work was consistent and if there was a close-up shot, either Brent did it or I did it." (TNG Season 6 DVD) Behind the scenes : "The Mind's Eye")]] Besides being a stand-in and background performer, Vardaman also served as "Research Consultant" for Star Trek creator Gene Roddenberry from TNG's first season until Roddenberry's death in 1991. In the TNG Season 5 DVD feature "A Tribute to Gene Roddenberry", Vardaman spoke of Gene as being intensely loyal to his friends and thoughtful in everything he did. "On the one hand," Vardaman stated, "He had to be an executive producer, and sometimes that is not a very pretty job." On the other hand, he noted, "Gene Roddenberry, the person, was one of the kindest people I’ve ever met." After Roddenberry's death, Vardaman worked in TNG's production office and later in the licensing division, a move which limited his on-screen appearances on the show during the sixth and seventh seasons. Vardaman is also a computer animator, and did occasional animation work on TNG, such as the Romulan overlay seen through Geordi's VISOR in the episode "The Mind's Eye". Mike Okuda sped up the final animation. Other projects Vardaman also worked as a computer animator for a 1991 TV special called Star Trek Logs: An MTV Big Picture Special Edition. This special was used to promote Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country while also tying in characters from The Next Generation. In addition to being an animator for TNG, he also served in this function on the television pilots for The Flash (1990) and Red Dwarf (1992). After TNG ended in 1994, Vardaman went on to work for Paramount Digital Entertainment, where he produced Paramount's official Star Trek website, StarTrek.com. He maintained the site from its infancy as the Star Trek: Continuum on the Microsoft Network (or MSN) in 1995 until late 1999. While working for that site, he hosted several online chats with various Star Trek regulars, including Brent Spiner, Robert Duncan McNeill, Jonathan Frakes, Terry Farrell, Robert Beltran, Jeri Ryan, Roxann Dawson, Chase Masterson and Mike and Denise Okuda. Afterwards, Vardaman began working at Warner Bros. Online, ultimately becoming the Vice President of Production. At present, he is working on a children's show called Snark-a-Snoops. Although it is currently a live stage production, attempts are being made to transfer the show to television. Vardaman has also been a guest speaker at many ''Star Trek'' conventions, including a few in Germany. He recalls the conventions as being "a lot of fun". Guy lives in Burbank, California with his wife Mary and son, Luke and is working to teach science to children with the [http://www.snarkasnoops.com/ Snark-a-Snoops] children's production. Appearances as Darien Wallace *TNG: **"Datalore" **"Angel One" **"11001001" **"Too Short a Season" **"Coming of Age" **"Heart of Glory" **"Skin of Evil" **"We'll Always Have Paris" **"The Neutral Zone" **"Elementary, Dear Data" **"The Outrageous Okona" **"Loud as a Whisper" **"The Schizoid Man" **"A Matter of Honor" **"Contagion" **"Time Squared" **"The Icarus Factor" **"Pen Pals" **"Q Who?" **"Peak Performance" **"Evolution" **"Booby Trap" **"The Vengeance Factor" **"The Hunted" **"Deja Q" **"[[Yesterday's Enterprise|Yesterday's Enterprise]] **"The Offspring" **"Sins of the Father" **"Tin Man" **"The Most Toys" **"Sarek" **"Ménage à Troi" **"Transfigurations" **"The Loss" **"The Wounded" **"Identity Crisis" **"The Drumhead" **"Half a Life" **"The Mind's Eye" **"Redemption, Part I" **"Ensign Ro" **"Silicon Avatar" **"The Game" **"The Masterpiece Society" **"Power Play" **"The Next Phase" **"Time's Arrow, Part II" **"Relics" **"Descent, Part II" **"Eye of the Beholder" (biographical image only) **"All Good Things..." *''Star Trek'' films: **''Star Trek Generations'' Additional Appearances External Links * Vardaman, Guy Vardaman, Guy Vardman, Guy